Google's wearable device new feature: Long-term tracking of insulin resistance, taking a key step towards comprehensive blood glucose monitoring

Alphabet's Google announced on Wednesday that it will launch a series of new health features for wearable devices, with the most notable being a tool for long-term tracking of insulin resistance. This marks a new step for the consumer technology company in exploring more comprehensive blood glucose monitoring.

This new feature will not continuously monitor or directly display blood glucose levels—achieving continuous glucose monitoring would be a significant breakthrough. Instead, Google assesses the body's metabolic burden when processing food by combining artificial intelligence with data from various sensors (including accelerometers, barometers, heart rate, and skin temperature sensors) to indirectly determine changes in insulin resistance levels.

Once the system detects significant fluctuations in a user's insulin resistance, the Google Health app will send reminders to the user, suggesting lifestyle adjustments or consulting a doctor. Unintervened insulin resistance over the long term may develop into prediabetes or type 2 diabetes.

In addition to insulin resistance tracking, Google has also launched features for monitoring blood pressure trends and analyzing nighttime breathing patterns. The company has integrated these new tools with existing health capabilities into a toolkit called "Health Guardian," helping users detect subtle physiological changes earlier and improve their habits accordingly.

These features will be launched later and will be unveiled alongside Google's new Pixel smartphone in New York. The company stated that the new features will first be available on the Pixel Watch 5 and Fitbit Air, and will gradually expand to other devices